Today’s model is also my slightly-delayed submission for Alex at Leadbaloony’sFembruary 2018 painting challenge. Originally, I’d hoped to get a few other models done in time as well, but with how February turned out, I’m actually quite happy just to have finished off Morathi to a this standard.

Of course, there’s a new pair of models for Morathi these days, as in AoS she currently leads the Daughters of Khaine faction. But never mind those – I’ll get to them when I get to them! This model originally had a rather ornate head to the staff, but as I didn’t like it, I chopped it off around the time I bought this model and simply replaced it with a skull from a plastic skeleton kit. Morathi might not look “dressed for battle” with more than a touch of cheesecake but to me she gives off a nice “Maleficent” type vibe, and she’s clearly powerful enough to dress however she likes…

Marouda, today.

As well as Alex’ challenge, I’m also dedicating this Fembruary model to Marouda, who is both a mentally strong woman as well as one who has been becoming physically stronger as the weeks go past (we’ve been going to the gym regularly since late last year, but more on that in a later post). She didn’t know why I wanted to take this photo, either. 😛

The palette I’ve chosen for Morathi is around the overall scheme that I’m doing my Dark Elves in, which is to say a lot of Turquoise and Aqua, with use of the blues and greens to each side. I’m also going to call this model the beginning of another AoS Skirmish warband, and shoehorn it into Alex’ other group project as my only other painted Dark Elves are limited to a pair of Assassins and a pair of Bolt Throwers that lack crew. Warbanding them up a bit more seems like the perfect motivation to getting a few more of these models painted!

Yeah, I have the newer pair in their box in the Pile’O’Shame. Still a lot more neglected and old stuff I want to get painted and out of the goddamned way before I break into that series of kits, though.
It really does look like Fitz was channelling a lot of “witch” and “sorceress” archetype images when sculpting this, and the shoulders are probably proxy “bat wings” as well, I’d think.

Heh, when I saw the model’s face, I instantly thought about some Disney character – Maleficent is probably spot on! I’m not a a huge fan of most old sculpts, but your paintwork is as impressive as always!

Brilliant mate – your colour scheme works a treat, and that mini is just too cool. She might be a bit cheesy, but she screams ‘badass baddie’, and the subtle work on the staff helps to tone it down a bit.
Kudos to Marouda for the gun-show! It’s so hard to get in (and stay in) shape, and I always have massive respect for people that do.

Thanks Alex. She’s not the greatest sculpt in the world with a few wonky bits, but it was really good for me to have something that worked as a kick up the arse to get her painted. Winter illness has put a damper on the gym in the past few weeks, but the main thing there for us is to carry on carrying on despite the little setbacks.

Yeah, Fitz’ work on the DE was pretty nice. I’ll always be a Jes>all kinda guy, and Naismith’s early DE were also really good, but Fitz’ spin on them generally worked for me as well, unlike so many of the resculpts of the original ranges circa 4th and 5th edition…

Great paintwork, especially the colour selection. The miniature does rather feel like it belongs to a different era (of really large heads and hands) but you’ve done it justice. She’s going to look pretty tiny next to the new Morathi though!

Morathi is beautiful. Good choice on the skull addition, really gives her a mood that tells a story. As for Marouda, very impressive. I thought you Aussies had all your guns confiscated? Hers are also impressive – don’t cross her!

Haha, I did have to hand mine in many years ago now – but no huge deal as I rarely got to shoot them anyway. I just keep a collection of completely legal melee weapons these days instead. 🙂
Marouda’s still on the road to Dana Brooke or Lacey Evans, so that’s good and visible gains have kept her enthusiasm high.
The previous staff topper on Morathi was even more over the top than her hat/crown/tiara, so it really had to go!

They may be occasionally wonky, but I have a soft spot for those old Chris Fitzpatrick sculpts, especially since his Dark Elves and Dark Eldar were so similar in style! Morathi really has that Maleficient look, well spotted! And while the model has a certain clunkiness when seen from a modern perspective, there was a time when she was just about the apex of female sculpts in GW’s catalogue.

Thanks KS, it always was a wonder why Jes never did more female sculpts, especially when he was still actively working on the various elven lines. It’s certainly a model that looks clunky today, but I still have a soft spot for it myself (especially now that she’s painted!) 😀

Jes is a hard one to think about. He obviously deserves his senior position at GW/in the design studio, but it’s a huge loss to the industry IMO that he hasn’t actively sculpted in so, so many years. Just think of all of the brilliant models that were simply never created!
I think you’ve hit the probably explaination as to why we didn’t see more female models from Jes (or anyone else, really) Aside from the odd Sorceress in armies like elves, females were almost exclusively depicted in “all-girl” groups and units across all their games until relatively recently, as they’re starting to creep into other units in the games – and without fanfare.

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